Neja Te'Kora
"No matter how low you may feel, no matter how much you may want to just fall flat on your face and give in to defeat, you have to remember one thing--the one thing that keeps us all going, the one thing that makes us realize that we can NOT give up.. We are Jedi." -Jedi Master Neja Te'Kora to Naa'la Kajun Neja Te'Kora is a Jedi Master and a current member of the Jedi Council. She is one of the orders most experienced healers and is the current Weapons Master of the order. During the early stages of the war, Master Te'Kora was responsible for the prevention of the Sith takeover of Corellia through the use of mercenaries and is known as the Hero of CorSec in the Corellian sector for her actions. Secretly she is the mother of one daughter named Naa'la Kajun, whom only Grandmaster Seion, Jedi Knight Rivenki, and her own mother know of. Bioghraphy Early Life "There isn't much to tell about my childhood, if you watched the typical twi'lek girl growing up on Ryloth for 10 years that'd be about it." -Neja Te'Kora to Acrostas Lyriatt on her past Little is known about Neja's life as a child, not even by the council. She rarely speaks about it to anyone. What is known is that she was born and raised on her homeworld of Ryloth in a twi'leki clan. Her mother was and remains to be the clanleader of her faction. She probably spent a normal young twi'leks life on her homeworld, which was that of a harsh and difficult one to live because of the brutal enviornments and dangerous habitats. When Neja was still young, around the age of 10, she was found by a traveling Jedi Master who could sense her from a great distance. He confronted her one day and told her that he could sense the Force within her and she could oneday become a Jedi. She barely knew of the 'Jedi', they were like fary-tale creatures told around the campfire of her clans village. Even so she could not help but be intriuged, so with permission from her mother she was taken to become a Jedi. Jedi Training "I was a lot like you when during my training, Naa'la. I was frustraited, impatient, and expected too much from myself." -Neja Te'Kora to Naa'la Kajun Like her childhood, her years of Jedi training is pretty basic. At a young age she had shown siginificant potential among her peers and was often the subject of talk between the masters who would observe her training. Early on in her training she showed a natural ability wielding a blade, being one of the most skilled youths of her time. She was able to defeat most of her fellow students in sparring lessons and won a significant amount of tournaments hosted by masters. However, with all the skill she had with a blade, she seemed to lack in her ability to use the Force. She would always have trouble keeping up in lectures about the Force, and usually fell behind in her studies. In lessons on Force using she was unable to use the Force as well as other students which was a source of her frustration for a long time during her training. She was not taken as a Padawan not because of her lack of ability to use the Force, but because of her large amount of frustration and unrest. She would throw fits and would argue with her instructors when they were unable to help her become a stronger Force user, and she would ignore their instructions of patience and calm. It took her atleast two years for her to be taken as a Padawan. She finally decided that her impatience and frustration was slowing her down and that she must overcome them on her own if she was ever to become a Padawan. After studying for seemingly endless amounts of time, she was able to learn the meditation arts on her own. She would meditate for hours and hours to atain peace calamity. Her official training to become a Jedi Knight began soon after when she was finally taken by a Master. Training as a Padawan seemed to come much easier for her, as she had no longer any boundaries or limitations and could finally begin to expand on her combat training. Neja's combat training continued to improve and she excelled at wielding a blade, even more so when she created her very own lightsaber. Although she always figured she'd specialize in lightsaber combat, she wanted to expand her knowledge of the Force. When her master gave her force based assignments, she didn't take to them as well as lightsaber combat, but she was driven by her determination to improve her command of the Force. She would spend a great many hours reading and practicing Force powers until she came upon one that caught her attention above the rest. The ability to heal others with the Force astouned her for reasons beyond her comprehension. After reading of it, she became even more so determined to become a Jedi Healer even though her set path was that of a Jedi Guardian. Although some advised otherwise, she continued to walk the path of a Jedi Healer, while still becoming a better duelist. Many years had passed and Neja was a young woman. She had completed most of her Jedi training and learned most of what her master had to teach her. The council had decided she was ready to become a true Jedi and her trials were to be dated. The day Neja entered the council chambers and was unexpectedly knighted by the Jedi Council was one of her happiest and most proud of days. She had always thought herself lucky to become a Jedi Knight at the time she did, because the galaxy was just about to break into a chaotic war that would last ages. The Beginning of the War "We've not met one like you for some time, Jedi. For this you are spared.. for now." -Darth Archeronus to Neja after her defeat of Morzan Soon after Neja had become a Jedi Knight, war broke into the galaxy. The Sith, the eternal enemies of the Jedi Knights, had returned to known space with an armada and waged war against the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order. The war began swiftly, the Sith had begun attacking outlying systems in Republic space. One such system was Bothawui, which would be the first battle the new Jedi Knight would get a taste of the brutal fury the Sith had unleashed. She along with a detachment of Jedi, along with Jedi Master Marxis and one of her former mentors Battlemaster o-sky, intercepted a wave of invading Sith soldiers and warriors that were deployed in Drevn'starn, the capital city. Neja and Master Marxis were tasked with the defense of the Drev'starn capital building against the oncomming Sith warriors. Waves of Republic Soldiers were able to keep the Sith at bay long enough for the Jedi to prepare. Once the Sith breached the capital building, the Jedi engaged them head on. Unfortunately it seemed skill was on the Sith's side during the battle. After some hours of fighting, most of the Jedi were injured and fleeing. Neja was the only Jedi who was unharmed and had won a personal victory of the Sith Lord Morzan. Despite her victory, she was quickly surrounded by the remaining Sith. She bravely stood her ground against the superior numbers, and to her surprise the Sith allowed her to leave, for she was the only Jedi who had been able to win in personal combat, going as far as maiming the defeated Sith Lord. Realizing she had little chance of survival if she stayed, she took the Sith's fragile offer and fled the battle, regrouping with the retreating Republic Forces. Although the battle had been a loss for the Jedi and Republic, Neja's actions gained her the title of Weapons Master. The First Corellian Crisis "My first assignment on my own was very difficult for me.. things happened that I would never forget, it was somewhat of a revelation to me." -Neja on her experience on Corellia Some time after she had been Knighted, Neja Te'Kora had been given her first assignment on her own. She was to be sent to the Corellian capital of Coronet to investigate the rumors of Sith activity. Although Neja doubted these claims were actually true, they were not to be denied without proof. The Sith had been trying to gain footholds throughout the entire galaxy, so any form of Sith threat was not to be taken lightly in the eyes of the Jedi. It was the first time Neja had been to Corellia, and she found the planet to her liking. There was much wildlife, and various large cities that could resemble Coruscants cities except for the cities on Coruscant shared no borders with a forest. Neja arrived at the capital building shortly after her arrival and was met by a Republic sergeant by the name of Kaden Lightfire, he and his squad of soldiers were sent by the Republic to aid their Corellian allies should the rumors be true. Neja insisted she did not need any assistances during the investigation, but the sergeant was very persistant and convinced Neja to accept his help. Neja figured if there were to find any information about Sith activity, it would best be done in the Corellian underworld. The lawless area of Coronet that was mostly in the lower cities was overrun with gangs and thugs, and some organized crime syndicates that were run by Hutts and Mercenaries. One such syndicate was an organized gang called the Red Pheonix, lead by Gorro the Hutt. Neja and Kaden were able to take up alternative identities and disguised themselves as a pair of traveling mercenaries looking for work. When the went to Gorro, he didn't openly accept them into his organization when they requested it. First they worked as hired guns, carrying out tasks and missions he assigned them. As distasteful as these tasks Gorro assigned them were, it was the only way they would get close enough to Gorro to find out if he knew anything about the rumored Sith activity. The tasks that Neja and Kaden had to complete were far from their usual line of work. Some tasks included, swoop racing for Gorro, smuggling, territorial expansion, and others. When a tasks included needless violence against a rival gang or some other kind of bystander in the underworld, Neja left it to Kaden, for she could bear harming another in the name of a criminal like Gorro. Kaden didn't like the idea either, but he was far more qualified. Both Neja and Kaden had been working for Gorro for several months, and had to take up residence together in the lower city, masquerading as a couple. The cover seemed to fool Gorro and anyone else who seemed to be suspiscious. As Gorro came to favor the pair as his favorite pair of mercs, he invited them to stay with him at his club, but they denied his offer to retain their cover. As time went on the two would become more and more familair with eachother, becoming good friends over a course of time. Finally Gorro had decided to recruit the two into his organization and instate them into his personal army of mercenaries which served more as his bodygaurds then anything else. Though the true extent of the Red Pheonix's mercenary army would be revealed to Neja and Kaden when they made their way up the ranks and were hand picked for a special assignment. They had learned from Gorro that he had made a deal with distant 'allies' to have a hostile takover of the Coronet government by attacking the CorSec base from underground. Gorro was sending his army from the sewers to attack from a hidden passage below, while light armored vehicles attacked the CorSec base and drew the heavier troops from the base, leaving it vulnerable. Neja and Kaden were to be apart of the team that drew the heavy armor from the CorSec base by placing Ion charges on the base to disable two larger tanks. The night before the attack, Neja and Kaden talked about the ordeal that lay before them. Kaden also admitted that over the course of months they had spent living together, he had developed feelings for her. Neja had also developed feelings for him but she knew that it was forbidden by the Jedi Order. She told him that their feelings would have to wait until after their mission was complete, and then they could talk. The next morning, the pair set out on their speeders to carry out Gorro's orders of disabling the bulk of the CSF's defenses at the main gate. First Battle of Corellia "The CSF are under attack, we have to call the Republic before the Sith get here first!" -Neja to Kaden after arriving at CorSec headquarters When the Ion charges were placed and detonated, the heavy troops persued Neja and Kaden out of the city where the soldiers were ambushed by Gorro's mercs. After the dirty deed was done, Neja attempted to secretly contact the CSF and warn them of the attack, but before she could she had been attacked from behind and rendered unconciouss by an unknown attacker. When she awoke hours later, she looked around in a daze. She heard a faint voice speak to her, she looked over and saw Kaden sitting next to her. They were both in chairs, cuffed to the armests and legs tied around the chair. She looked up and saw a dark figure approaching her, when he spoke his voice was cold a raspy. She could feel a darkness about him, a taint. She recognized this as the dark side and realized this was Gorro's ally, the Sith. The rumors of Sith activity turned out to be true as the Sith explained that he had planned to use his mercenary allies to destroy the CSF to allow a small force of Sith that was waiting in orbit using stealth generators to hide their prescence. The Sith would indirectly gain control of the system once the mercenary had quickly destroyed the main CorSec headquarters and allowed the Sith to quickly take control of the sector. Gorro had somehow discovered Neja was a Jedi Knight and informed the Sith before she could warn the CSF. However, the information Gorro had acquired wasn't completely accurate. Neja noticed the power on the stuncuffs on her wrists were low, low enough for her to break out of after she had regained her strength. When she broke free. The Sith was fooled into believing Neja was a Padawan, making the Sith sorely underestimate her abilities. She was able to retrieve her lightsaber from the Sith's desk and engage him in a duel. The duel lasted a good long while that took them to the roof of the Sith's observation platform overlooking Coronet. Neja had tried to use the Force to bring down an atennae down on the Sith while he was distracted by a nearby explosion caused by the CSF and Red Pheonix. The antannae managed to cause the Sith to lose his lightsaber and allowed Neja to charge at him while he was disarmed. However, the Sith was more powerful then she thought. He unleashed a full blast of Force Lightning on her which brought her to her knees. Just as the Sith was about to finish Neja with a final blast, Kaden had managed to break free of his restraints and charged the Sith and put him in a arm lock around his neck. Kaden quickly snapped the Sith's neck and helped Neja recover. After dest roying the platform, the pair made their way for the CSF base to aid the CorSec against the Red Pheonix. When they arrived they found that the RF had managed to penetrate deep in the base, taking the CSF by surprise enough to decimate them before they could organize. Neja and Kaden, however, were able to regroup the scattered squads in the base and push the mercs back. When the CSF were regrouped and winning, Neja and Kaden made their way to the hangar were the base commander and mercenary leader were fighting it out with their squads. The commander and merc leader were engaged in a vibroblade duel before Neja and Kaden intervened and defeated the leaders men. The leader was defeated by Neja in single combat. Despite Kaden's desire to slay the man, Neja spared the merc leader and let him leave with his life, thinking the CSF would capture him soon enough. The Republic fleet was called in after the mercenaries were beaten away, the Sith fleet was found in orbit and engaged by the Republic. After an hour of combat between the fleets, the Sith were forced to retreat after most of their forces were destroyed. With the Sith forces gone, the battle was over. After the ordeal had ended, Neja and Kaden were commended for their actions and named Hero's of CorSec. Neja was eager to return to the Jedi, but she knew there were still other things she needed to take care of. Forbidden Affair "I love you, Neja, and I'm willing to try for you." -Kaden Lightfire confesses his desire to share a romantic relationship with Neja Before Neja returned to the Jedi, she knew she had to confront Kaden about what they had discussed earlier. She told him she had cared for him, but her status as a Jedi made a relationship between the two of them impossible. Kaden, however, was convinced that it could work between them and was willing to keep their relationship a secret from everyone but themselves if she had agreed. She knew she had felt strongly for him, infact after all the time they had spent together, she had thought she had fallen in love with him, and the same could be said for Kaden. Neja was still reluctant to form a relationship with him, she knew she could not keep it a secret forever, she was too loyal to the Jedi. Her feelings though were able to overpower her better judgment. Kaden continued to make advances at her and eventually she gave in and allowed him to take her. The two shared an intimate night together after finally admitting to eachother that they had fallen in love with one another. The next morning was difficult for Neja, she did not want to have to say goodbye to him but she knew she had been away from the Jedi for far too long and didn't want to delay anymore then she had to. Kaden promised her that they would meet again someday, and hopefully continue their relationship in secret. Neja was unsure if she could continue to do so, but she promised him she would think on it. After saying their final fairwells, Neja departed from their apartment and left the capital, finally returning to the Jedi Temple. Inactive Years ((Too be updated...)) Powers and Abilities "So you're a Healer, a Weapons Master, a Guardian, and a Field Medic?" "Well.. yes, that's about right. I do therapy from time to time too." "Well which comes first?" "Depends on the situation." -Neja Te'Kora and her Padawan Ian Kado Jedi Master Neja Te'Kora is a skilled duelist, considering lightsaber combat her speciality. After her defeat of the Sith Lord Morzan, she was given the title of Weapons Master and has bore is ever since. She will usually teach students about weapons and combat in general, and leaves Force based lessons to other Masters, except if the lesson involves healing. Other then her dueling prowess, she is the Jedi Orders most valued Healer. She spent many of her Padawan years studying the powers of Force Healing and all its forms and continues to do so even though she has mastered most forms of Healing and medical practicies. Personality and Traits "What a cute little thing you are, absolutely adorable!" -Neja shortly after giving birth to her daughter Naa'la Neja is for the most part a kind and compassionate, not to mention mischievious, being. Though despite her gentle nature, she has the ability to be quite serious and is willing to take risks, risks that would push the boundaries of the Jedi Code. When dueling the Sith Lord Morzan, she visciously unleashed deadly parry and severed his arms, and she usually goes for maiming any Sith adversaries she faces. She would kill a Sith if she saw no hope for redemption in them. "Don't be foolish, Neja, Eulen will destroy you if I fail to. Do yourself a favor and join me and no harm will come to you." "Hmmm.. No." -Acrostas Lyriatt attempts to turn Neja Neja is usually serious when the situation requires it, but at other times she can show a total lack for care and seriousness infront of anyone. When Eulen Tarus attacked the temple with Acrostas Lyriatt, she plainly told him that she was not in the mood for a raid and asked him casually to leave. Most people think she is only joking when she acts this way, but in all seriousness she can just display a total lack of care for a situation. All though she is for the most part loyal to the Jedi Order, she is much more loyal to the Light itself. Neja had always had her own personal beliefs on what a Jedi should be, and she had always doubted some of the Jedi Codes aspects.. Her doubt in some of the code manifested itself in Neja's daughter, and Jedi are strictly forbidden to have children. Her attitude toward the Jedi Council prior to her joining it could've been describied as somewhat rebellious.